Peace of Mind
by Lychee Green Tea
Summary: A moment between father and daughter brings Goku to reflect on his peaceful life. GohanXPan parental, one shot. Happy Father's Day!


Happy Father's Day to everyone! I wrote this for all those who love cute little moments between Gohan and Pan, and what better day to post this than Father's Day? Let me know what you think. I keep thinking there's something missing here...

**Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z. **

**Peace of Mind**

It was a lovely day for any human or animal; the sun shone brilliantly over the stunning mountain range, and a gentle breeze swept over the grass, creating an air of peace. As the birds chirped their songs, squirrels gathered more nuts, and the sturdy cliffs of the mountain held everything in place. The loud shrill of a child's cry almost broke everyone's eardrums…

Wait, what?

One particular man wasn't enjoying the scenery as much as he had hoped, and many of the creatures surrounding the area were beginning to run off either in fear or annoyance.

"Uh…it's okay…" Goku tried to calm down the screaming child. "Please don't cry, Pan!" He almost begged.

Goku held the three-year-old in his arms as he stood, not quite knowing what had even set the child off in the first place.

"I want my daddy!" Pan wailed. "I want him now!"

"Uh…daddy's not here right now, but what about grandpa?" Goku offered.

"Wahhh!"

"But daddy will be here soon!" Goku exclaimed hurriedly.

He took a moment in between cries, sobs and screams to assess his granddaughter's request. Okay, so she wanted Gohan, and not Videl. It was well known that Pan always went to Gohan whenever she had a question or if she was scared. Videl was the one she always went to for everything else or as a last resort if, 'daddy didn't know something'. Translation: Gohan did _not_ wanna talk about where babies came from.

Considering Pan's wailing, it was safe to say she was probably scared of something. The question was, scared of what?

"Waahh!" She continued crying. Man, this kid sure had lungs! Goku might have said that he was glad Piccolo wasn't present, but the green namekian wasn't the only one with sensitive hearing.

A powerful ki signal made itself known to both child and grandfather, and neither of them could have been more thankful. As Gohan descended from the air to land on the grass by the cliff side, he was bombarded by two excited cries.

"Gohan!"

"DADDY!"

Without a second thought, Pan flew right into her confused father's arms. Yes, at three years old, she could already fly, and Gohan was more than glad that she wasn't a rebellious teenager. Yet.

"Um…what happened?" He asked in curiosity as his daughter gradually began to quiet down. "Pan hardly ever cries."

"Beats me. We were playing and she suddenly came out of a cave crying and screaming." Goku failed to mention that it happened nearly a half an hour ago, and in that half an hour Pan had not ceased to stop her relentless wailing. Now Gohan, within a couple of seconds, managed to quiet her down to barely audible sobs.

"There…there…w-was a…was a monster!" Pan stage whispered.

"A monster?" Both Goku and Gohan asked in unison.

Pan nodded vigorously, not noticing the wry tones in both her father and grandfather.

"Right, then. Let's go check it out." Gohan sighed with the air of a long-suffering parent.

"But daddy!" Pan started, "It's big and scary and really, really mean!" She protested. Of course, it didn't work, as daddy kept walking towards the big cave, and she contemplated going back to her grandpa since he wasn't following. After some careful consideration, she decided it was safer with Gohan at the adamant belief of him being stronger.

A twenty-second walk, toe stub in which the rock Gohan hit went flying, and one tackle later, Gohan felt this weird, wet sensation on his face. He wouldn't say it was unfamiliar, because he remembered he felt it somewhere before…

"Daddy!" Pan shouted out of worry, because the big scary monster was licking her dear papa. Well, at least it wasn't attacking, but still!

She blinked in surprise when she heard playful laughter coming from Gohan, which was weird, since she only ever heard him laugh like that with her mother and her.

"Pan," Gohan said in between bouts of chuckling, "This is Icarus. He's an old friend of mine." Gohan said.

Pan looked at the big, purple monster in awe as he followed her dad out of the cave to where Goku was still waiting.

"Well," Gohan started, "Say 'hi', Pan."

Pan buried herself deeper into her father's chest as Icarus stared at her with curiosity. The baby dragon was definitely not a baby any longer, and it was much, much bigger than Gohan in size. Its neck stretched two meters at the least, and he reached down do lick the face of the little girl.

"I can't believe you guys managed to find Icarus out here." Gohan commented to Goku as Pan started to open up to the dragon. "I haven't seen him for so long."

"Well, it was Pan who found him. Like father like daughter, right?" Goku said lightly. "Anyways, I should get back. I take it you and Pan are gonna stay a little while longer?" Goku asked.

It was then that Pan jumped out of her father's arms and landed neatly onto the base of Icarus' neck. She giggled as Icarus began to flap its wings gently.

"It sure looks like it." Gohan chuckled. "Thanks for taking care of Pan today, dad. I'll see if we can visit you guys this weekend." He said.

Goku nodded to his eldest son and took off into the sky. Once he was well into the air, he looked back and could see their small figures laughing and playing joyfully. He smiled, and headed back to his own loving wife.

In the back of his mind, he would always be thankful for his life. He was strong, he was a hero, and the long, terrible battles were finally over. These days his worries never went past how to make his family happy, instead of the weight of the world on his shoulders.

No; that wasn't quite right. The weight of the world fell on everyone's shoulders in the midst of battle. His own son had defeated one of the most powerful beings in the universe, and he couldn't help the feeling of pride whenever the image of him and his family came to mind. Even though new enemies were sure to come, they would all cherish the time they had left.

It was a lovely day for any human or animal; the sun shone brilliantly over the stunning mountain range, and a gentle breeze swept over the grass, creating an air of peace. And that's exactly what it was. Peace. Real peace.


End file.
